


cops and robbers

by apollothyme



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Police, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:43:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollothyme/pseuds/apollothyme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam is a cop in a tiny town where the worst criminals are teenagers who think spray painting 'DICKS' is the funniest thing ever. Them and Zayn Malik.</p>
            </blockquote>





	cops and robbers

**Author's Note:**

> There are so many other things I should be writing instead of a pathetic excuse for a cop/criminal smut AU, and yet, here I am. For a prompt at tumblr that I completely deviated from. I'll get back to writing decent things now.

Liam’s job is a good combination of wishing he was still in bed and wishing he could go back six years and punch his teenage self in the face at the same time as he screamed ‘STUDY YOU BLOODY WANKER OR YOU’LL REGRET IT FOREVER!’ because as much as Liam refuses to admit it out loud, he really regrets his choices.  
  
Life in the force is not bad or anything. It’s just not good either. For the most part, serving in a small town makes the job incredibly boring. The few times anything exciting happens, it’s an annoying brat thinking he’s the shit that did it.  
  
Liam won’t say he hates the damn kids, but he definitely doesn’t like them much either. They’re not bad kids per se, in fact, that's what is most annoying about the whole thing. They’re good people doing stupid shit, throwing their perfectly good lives and crystal clear criminals records away for the chance of spray painting ‘DICKS’ on a wall.  
  
It’s nerve wracking, is what it is. They all have brilliant futures ahead of them, if they could just get back to the right path and stop hanging out with bad company.  
  
It should be known that by ‘bad company’, who Liam truly means is Zayn ‘ _I am going to make your life a bleeding hell_ ’ Malik.  
  
Zayn is one of the good kids turned bad, who grew up and fancied their reputation too much to let it go. One that went astray and never found his way back into the path that doesn’t end in jail. What he does precisely, nobody knows.  
  
That’s one of the most frustrating things about Zayn: he’s smart. Like, really, proper, stupidly smart. One good look at him, and anyone can tell Zayn could have gone to a good college and made something of himself if he had wanted to.  
  
Instead, for some reason Liam will never understand, he decided he didn’t want a brilliant future. Zayn stuck to his old, small town and… sold drugs? Probably. Liam reckons if people in his town are doing something illegal, Zayn had something to do with it. He just hasn’t discovered what that is yet or found a way to prove his theory.  
  
Liam’s working on it, though. He’s gathering evidence, collecting statements, filing reports, planning future interrogations. The works, basically.  
  
So far nothing has come of his efforts, but Liam didn’t expect any quick results when he began. Zayn’s smart, much smarter than Liam, but Liam’s got the time. Nothing more exciting is happening in their little town, that’s for sure. He knows, sooner or later, he’s going to catch Zayn.  
  
For now, he doesn’t mind playing cats and rats with his personal criminal of sorts. He doesn’t mind the slow dance they do around each other, since it means he gets to spend time with Zayn. Liam gets to study him, talk to him, search for any cracks in his stories, see if he can find any weak points.  
  
All important things in the overall goal of getting Zayn in jail.  
  
Which is why nobody can say that Liam enjoys Zayn’s company in any way whatsoever. Because he doesn’t. Seriously.  
  
The only reason why Liam doesn’t ignore Zayn when Zayn stops him in the street with a quick ‘hello, how are you?’ is because he’s a professional. The reason why Liam sometimes goes to the dingy pub off Helm Street with the tinted windows and smoke infested air with Zayn (off hours, of course) is because you never know when Zayn might let something slip. The only reason why Liam doesn’t turn Zayn away when Zayn shows up at the police station with coffee and donuts at one a.m. (when Liam’s busy filling reports) is because something incriminating might slip out of Zayn’s pockets.  
  
All strictly work related things.  
  
The only thing unprofessional in their relationship is the sex, but Liam would rather not talk about that.  
  
It’s just... Zayn is really, really,  _really_   hot. He is beautiful in any bloody way you can think of, and he’s got the most soul absorbing eyes and dirty mouth and Liam’s lonely, alright?  
  
It’s not easy being the only gay man in town besides Eric, who wears pink neon, skin-tight letter shorts every Sunday to church, for fuck’s sake.  
  
Zayn is always there, when nobody else is, and he looks at Liam through his eyelashes, perfect coy grin set in place, heat emanating from his body warmer than the sun. He’s always close, too, like not being glued to Liam at every available opportunity pains him. He's good company, is all, when he's not busy doing illegal things, so Liam just sort of didn’t say ‘no’ when Zayn kissed him for the first time.  
  
And he didn’t say ‘no’ when Zayn pushed him against his desk. He didn’t say ‘no’ when Zayn began taking off both their clothes. He didn’t say ‘no’ when Zayn turned him around and spread his legs apart and he didn’t say a single goddamn thing when Zayn slid into him, since the feeling of having Zayn inside of him made his brain short circuit and left him speechless.  
  
(Even if his brain hadn’t given up on him then and there, Liam still wouldn’t have said ‘no’. Most likely, he would have something along the lines of "Jesus, fuck!’ and "You feel so good," as he moaned like a shameless pornstar, because Liam’s always been loud in bed and Zayn seems to be driven by every little noise Liam makes.)

 

* * *

 

 

 

Liam’s watching telly when he gets a text from an unknown number.  
  
 **come meet me in 10 @ flower garden xx -- Z**  
  
Liam only needs to read the words once before he’s out of his ratty couch and getting his shoes. It’s Saturday night and he’s got nothing better to do since all of his friends are busy with their families. This isn’t much of an excuse for meeting up with his town’s biggest criminals at the new flower garden still in construction, but it’s the best Liam can think of.  
  
Not that Liam needs to think of an excuse, not that he has to justify himself to anyone, not that he has anyone to justify himself to. Liam’s friends don’t know about him and Zayn and god forbid they ever found out. All they know is that Liam is sort of obsessed with catching Zayn, which is not that weird, all things considered, since Liam’s the only cop (out of four) in town who takes his job seriously enough to actually try to do something about Zayn.  
  
‘Catching Zayn’ is just the tip of the iceberg in the list of ‘things Liam wants that happen to be related to the biggest criminal in town’, but that’s something nobody else needs to know.  
  
All people need to know is that Liam is a good, responsible cop, so that they treat Liam like a good, responsible cop, so that Liam can sleep at night.  
  
Because it’s really tough to fall asleep knowing only a couple of hours before, Zayn had Liam’s dick in his mouth, and not just because the thought and the mental picture it evokes give Liam a hard-on.  
  
Liam didn’t become a cop so he could fuck perps; he became a cop so he could do something decent with his life. Somewhere along the lines though, the fucking perps thing -- more specifically, one perp called Zayn Malik -- happened and Liam hasn’t figured out what it means yet. He also hasn’t figured out if it makes him a bad cop or not, if what Zayn’s doing can be considered a bribe, if he is not as decent as he likes to think he is, etc etc.  
  
The list of things Liam hasn’t figured out about Zayn Malik is pretty big and goes on for quite a while, starting with why  _(Zayn wants Liam, he didn’t try to go back to school, he makes a living out of illegal activities)_ , when  _(did Zayn start wanting Liam, did he gave up, did he decided to make money out of other people’s illicit ways)_  and how  _(he’s so smart and so freaking dumb at the same time, because Zayn’s a genius, he really is, so why is he texting Liam at eleven p.m. so they can meet in a unfinished flower garden)_ .  
  
And you’d think that Liam would use the time he spends talking to Zayn to figure some of these things out, but he doesn’t, and he doesn’t plan to anytime soon because Liam’s Liam, and asking ‘hey why do you wanna fuck me?’ is not the sort of thing he does, so whatever. They’re not super important questions anyway.  
  
The streets are dead empty by the time Liam gets inside his car. Yellow lights from warm houses and street lamps blur together and Liam doesn’t think about them. He doesn’t think about anything the whole drive, finds it easier to get lost in the soulless music playing over the radio about ‘getting some’ and ‘pretending we’re cool’.  
  
Liam has a thing where he finds it difficult to admit certain things, even to himself. So instead of thinking about them, he doesn’t think about anything at all. He reckons it’s not very healthy, but it’s easy, it works and he’s almost at the garden.  
  
Zayn is already waiting for him next to a flickering lamp when Liam gets there. He flashes Liam sharp smile before he turns around and starts walking to an area full of small trees, looking back only once to see check if Liam’s following him (he is).  
  
There’s a shoddy fence all around the garden to prevent people from getting in, but without much -- or any, if Liam thinks about it -- trouble, Zayn finds a hidden spot beneath the trees where the light doesn’t reach and the people from the houses across the street can’t see. He climbs the metal protection in one swift movement, standing on the other side with his hands inside his pockets to watch Liam do the same thing.  
  
It doesn’t take them more than a couple of minutes to get inside the park, and the whole time Liam has been biting his tongue, wanting to talk to Zayn but not daring to speak until he was sure nobody would hear them. There’s no point in asking what they’re doing there. Liam already knew that before he even read the end of Zayn’s text. What Liam’s wondering is why there, why now, why him (although that, he’s been wondering for a much longer time).  
  
Zayn beats him to it though, speaking before Liam has the chance. “I was hoping you’d still be wearing your uniform. Pitty.”  
  
In response, Liam blushes, dark crimson filling his cheeks. Liam’s happy they’re in the dark. “Sorry.” Liam says, but the way that he shrugs makes it clear that he’s not really sorry at all.  
  
The next question doesn’t come from Liam, although it might as well have for the effect it has. “What do you think of the garden?”  
  
“It’s pretty.” Liam says while he stares right at Zayn. He doesn’t care or know much about gardens. As long as there’s green and a space for kids to run, he’s happy. “Is that why you called me here? To see the new garden?”  
  
Zayn smiles. “Felt like we needed a change of scenario,” Zayn turns around and begins walking outside the tree area. This time he doesn’t look back to check if Liam’s following him (he doesn’t need to), “also, I hadn’t seen it yet, so I thought: ‘why not?’”  
  
“Why not indeed.” Liam murmurs to himself as he speeds up to walk by Zayn’s side.  
  
Together they see the duck pond, devoid of any ducks at current moment but sure to be full soon, the benches dedicated to famous people who happened to stop by their town once or twice and the gazebo. Next to the concrete pavement there are tiny rows of various flowers, which isn’t very surprising considering the name of the garden. What is surprising is seeing Zayn lean down every so often to smell them or look them a bit more closely.  
  
It doesn’t take long for Liam’s brain to start working at full speed despite Liam’s best wishes, incapable of not thinking anymore when it’s exploding with questions dying to get answers.  
  
Questions all caused by Zayn. Questions only Zayn has the answer to. For a second, Liam phantoms the thought that he’s as dependent of Zayn as all the other petty criminals in his town are. This thought not only makes him feel sick, but also makes him wonder what the hell he’s doing with his life.  
  
Liam tries to physically push the thought away as soon as it occurred to him, shaking his head from left to right twice as if the action would help him stop thinking. It doesn’t, but it does get Zayn’s attention, who stops admiring daffodils for one second to give Liam a curious look.  
  
“What?” Liam asks when Zayn doesn’t say anything.  
  
“Nothing. You just seem odd tonight,” Zayn shrugs from his place near the ground before he gets up, “I bet I know something that could take your mind off things.”  
  
It’s one of the corniest, one hundred percent cliché, overused lines to ever exist and yet, it still has the desired effect on Liam, who shudders when Zayn grabs his hand and presses a light kiss on his neck, right beneath his left ear.  
  
Zayn’s mouth is warm and wet against his skin, trailing butterfly kisses across Liam’s jaw until it reaches Liam’s lips, which Zayn kisses with the desperate passion of a starving man. Liam lets himself be kisses silently, pushing every little noise trying to escape past his lips down back where they came.  
  
This only seems to fuel Zayn, who deepens the kiss by walking them backwards until Liam’s back hits the nearest tree. With the new support, Zayn is able to cup Liam’s face with his hands and kiss with his tongue, teeth and lips until both their lungs are gasping for air.  
  
The light from the nearest streetlamp gets caught in the glint of Zayn’s licorice eyes and it makes Zayn look impossibly young and innocent. For just one second, Liam feels like he’s not staring at the Zayn he knows now, the one that drinks, smokes, has a miles long reputation and likes to fuck Liam in his free time. Instead, Liam is staring at a young Zayn, before he strayed off to where he shouldn’t, when he was still good and perfect grades and his mom and dad’s pride and joy.  
  
And Liam can’t, for the life of him, decided who he likes best.  
  
He always thought he wanted Zayn in his jail so that maybe, Zayn could learn from his actions and get back to where he belongs, with all the other smart, successful people. Yet, here he is now, kissing his town’s greatest criminal and deeply enjoying every second of it.  
  
In any other situation, this would worry Liam to no ends, but right now, Zayn’s pushing Liam’s shirt off his shoulders and his mouth is starting its slow path down Liam’s chest and  _fuck it_ . Fuck it all because Zayn is ridiculously hot and Liam wants him so bad he can’t even think about it and he has no idea how any of this started or why but he’s not about to start questioning it when Zayn’s got his mouth on top of Liam’s hipbones and is sucking down,  _hard_ .  
  
“Jesus christ, your mouth Zayn, your fucking mouth.” Liam says, unable to keep quiet any longer. Zayn’s eyes shoot wide open then, looking at Liam with a newfound fondness and admiration that makes Liam’s knees tremble just the tiniest bit.  
  
Zayn flashes Liam a loose, cocky grin before he opens Liam’s zipper and wastes no time in getting Liam’s cock out of Liam’s tight boxers. The cool night air hits Liam like a ice sledge hammer. Combined with Zayn’s hot breath against his skin, Liam becomes a shivering mess in seconds.  
  
What really makes all the coherent thought inside Liam’s head fly out the window are Zayn’s words though, whispered by his shiny, swollen, slick with spit, red lips. “God, I’ve been waiting to do this all day,” a bite on the inside of Liam’s thighs, “I saw you in the coffee shop and all I wanted was to kiss you in front of all those idiots. You should be mine Liam, all mine.”  
  
Zayn sighs his last words, as if he didn’t want to admit them but doesn’t want to take them back either now that he has said them. Zayn also doesn’t want to hear Liam’s reply, so he wraps his lips around Liam’s cock and lets Liam thrust into his mouth, fully knowing how much Liam loves it when he does that.  
  
Just before Liam’s brain decidedly shuts down, Liam can’t help thinking that this? All of this is something they’ve ever done before. The talking and the confessing and the shameless, open want and Liam has no idea what any of it means and doesn’t know if he wants to find out either.  
  
It’s to not worry about it though because Zayn’s good at giving head. Like, really good, and Liam already knew that, but that doesn’t stop him from feeling like they’ve done this before.  
  
A little twist here (at the head, with his tongue pushing the slit of Liam’s cock and making Liam’s vision go white), a little more pressure there (at the base, which he strokes with his calloused right hand as his left pushes Liam’s hips against the tree and his lips do the rest of the work), a positively sinful look in his blown pupils and Liam’s coming undone inside Zayn’s mouth with a low groan.  
  
Zayn swallows all of Liam’s come, sucking Liam’s cock throughout the aftershocks until the pleasure becomes pain and Liam starts whimpering and tries to push him away. Zayn chuckles at Liam, and Liam would feel offended if it wasn’t for the way Zayn’s voice sounds so fucking debauched.  
  
Zayn pushes himself up, leaning against Liam as he presses a kiss against Liam’s lips. He rolls his hips against Liam’s hips, begging for attention, but before Liam can do anything for him their kiss is abruptly broken off by the blaring sound of sirens --  _cop_  sirens -- and two blinding headlights aimed at them.  
  
“Is that--” Zayn begins to say before Liam cuts him off with a loud swear.  
  
“ _Shit_ !”  
  
Zayn looks at Liam then with a mix of surprise and pride, too happy to be normal at the discovery of Liam’s rich vocabulary. He stares at Liam with his mouth slightly agape and his eyes twinkling before stumbling backwards, out of Liam’s reach.  
  
“I should go.” Zayn says, and doesn’t give Liam time to reply before he’s running off back where they came from. Almost as an afterthought, Zayn turns around and adds with a wink, “I’ll call you!”  
  
Liam watches Zayn go until the darkness swallows Zayn’s skinny figure and Liam is left staring at nothing but various shadows. He fixes himself up as best he can with his back towards the headlights, but doesn’t think he did a very good job when he turns around and the sound of footsteps stepping on fallen leaves mixes with hysterical laughter.  
  
“Liam? Is that you?  _Oh my god_ . I thought you were some horny teenager getting it on.”  
  
Liam lets out a little frustrated sigh and as the silhouette surrounded by white light takes shape to reveal Louis Tomlinson, one of Liam’s closest friends and fellow cop in their tiny town. Louis is one of the few people Liam genuinely likes, but also one of the most annoying person’s Liam has ever met.  
  
Louis --  _of course_  -- had decided to actually do his job for once the night Liam made the judgement call that having sex with Zayn in a very public place was a good idea. Because life loves Liam that much.  
  
“This is better than Christmas, oh my god, wait until I tell Harry. Who was that? Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone? Wait, don’t tell me, was that a prostitute? Holy fuck, no way.”  
  
Louis’ ramble goes on for a quite a while and Liam can only be happy that Louis didn’t see who he was with. Liam plays with the idea of telling Louis about Zayn for a fraction of a second before he throws it in the trash.  
  
This is probably some kind of mysterious sign from god saying that what he has with Zayn is stupid, reckless, could get Liam into serious trouble if anyone found out and should be stopped immediately.  
  
Liam’s never been good at picking up signs though, and even if he was, he doesn’t think he’d tell Zayn to wanker off anyway.  
  
See, Liam’s a good cop, he really is, but his job is balls and he doesn’t even know what Zayn does exactly -- if it’s really that bad or just what it looks like: ballsy rumors built around an old reputation -- and Liam doesn’t have to think about it to know that he wants to see more of Zayn. That he wants to see Zayn in the mornings just after he wakes up, in the nights before he goes to sleep, at his dinner table eating toast, on his couch watching telly and wrapped inside the same blanket as Liam.  
  
Liam’s kind of screwed, yeah, most likely in more ways than he knows, but life in the force probably wasn’t the right call for him anyway.


End file.
